Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ophthalmologic apparatus configured to execute an examination of an eye to be examined through observation or photographing thereof.
Description of the Related Art
An ophthalmologic apparatus configured to observe or photograph an eye to be examined is generally supported by a stand for installing an apparatus main body on a flat surface such as a floor or a desk. The ophthalmologic apparatus includes components such as a so-called rack, a camera main body part serving as the apparatus main body, a chin rest part, and a forehead rest, and those components are arranged in order on this stand.
The rack supports the camera main body part so as to be able to slide in a substantially horizontal direction (front-back/left-right direction) relative to the above-mentioned flat surface. Further, the camera main body part stores various optical systems and control systems. The chin rest part is used to place a chin of an examinee at a time of an examination. The forehead rest is used to bring a forehead of the examinee into abutment therewith. The optical system of the camera main body part includes an objective lens located so as to be opposed to the eye to be examined and an image pickup lens configured to form an image of the eye to be examined on an image pickup element. Further, the ophthalmologic apparatus is electrically connected to the camera main body part, and also includes an operation part configured to allow an examiner to perform instructions/operations of image pickup and the like.
The camera main body part is demanded to perform, at a time of the examination, alignment between an optical system for the eye to be examined and the eye to be examined or a change of a range for observation or photographing of the eye to be examined. Therefore, the camera main body part can change in angle toward the eye to be examined in regard to up-down and left-right directions on the rack. Note that, in general, the change in angle in the up-down direction is referred to as “elevation”, and the change in angle in the left-right direction is referred to as “swing”.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-45083 discloses an ophthalmologic image pickup apparatus configured to allow the elevation and the swing of the camera main body part with respect to the eye to be examined. Specifically, an elevation unit and a swing unit are arranged in the ophthalmologic image pickup apparatus.
The swing unit supports a photographing unit so as to oscillate in a substantially horizontal direction about a substantially vertical first axis, the first axis being substantially in contact with an anterior ocular segment of the eye to be examined. Further, the elevation unit supports the photographing unit so as to oscillate in a substantially up-down direction about a substantially horizontal second axis, the second axis being substantially in contact with the anterior ocular segment of the eye to be examined. A monitor unit configured to present the photographed image is mounted to the swing unit, and is further configured to oscillate integrally with the photographing unit about the first axis.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-245028 discloses an ophthalmologic image pickup apparatus provided with a tilt mechanism for elevating a photographing part in the up-down direction relative to the eye to be examined. The ophthalmologic apparatus can perform an action of the elevation by the tilt mechanism formed of a guide member, a moving member, a coupling member, and the like. The guide member has an arc shape formed about a given point on a photographing optical axis of an image pickup optical system extending toward the eye to be examined. The moving member is rotatably mounted to the apparatus main body, and is moved along the guide member. The coupling member couples a rotation shaft formed to the guide member to the moving member, and is rotationally driven by a drive part. The moving member is moved relative to the rotation shaft by the rotation of the coupling member, which causes the apparatus main body to tilt in the up-down direction along the guide member.
Related-art ophthalmologic image pickup apparatus including the ophthalmologic image pickup apparatus disclosed above are based on an assumption that the examinee undergoes an examination with his/her face fixed temporarily perpendicularly. However, the examinee includes a person, for example, a weak-kneed elderly person, whose face is hardly fixed substantially perpendicularly. With the above-mentioned ophthalmologic image pickup apparatus, it is difficult to execute an examination (observation or photographing) for such an examinee due to the arrangement of the chin rest part, the forehead rest, and the like provided based on the above-mentioned assumption.